


quarter phase

by Anonymous



Category: Over the Garden Wall (Cartoon & Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:34:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23999080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: A brief moment of reflection.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9
Collections: Anonymous





	quarter phase

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to Fail Fandom Anon for the prompt "100 words of: the moon".

He found himself watching the sky one night, between the rhythm of woodchopping and whispering wind. A half-moon hung above him, filtered into fragments through the bare branches that reached into the sky like wanting hands. The stars around it glittered in an unfamiliar tapestry.

She'd known the natural world better than he did, just like her mother; she could have pointed up into the scattered lights and named the constellations, found Polaris and guided him home. He turned his gaze into the lantern for a long, drawn moment, watching the flame form little wraithlike shapes behind that tiny glass window, and imagined her trying to teach him-- _see, Father? Just follow the ladle and you'll find the north star! Mother taught me a rhyme for it, it goes like this_ \--

He shook his head, returning to the sky. How long had it been since he heard her voice? The moon's phase sat perfectly in the center of the cycle, midway between apex and rebirth, neither waxing nor waning. Had it perhaps been a little rounder and wider last night? Narrower? He couldn't remember. The ambiguity seemed to taunt him. 

A baritone strain of song echoed through the trees, closer than before. The woodsman sighed, tearing his eyes away, and swung the axe again.


End file.
